Aphyllorchis exilis

Aphyllorchis exilis Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 17 (1921) 366

Type: Kempf s.n. (border between German and English New Guinea) (holo B, lost)

Terrestrial, erect, 35-40 cm tall. Stem weakly flexuose, terete, glabrous, with 8-9 short, apiculate, distant, tightly clasping scales, above the base scarcely 0.2 cm diam.; rachis laxly 6-10-flowered, up to 8 cm long, erect. Floral bracts spreading, lanceolate-oblong, subacute or apiculate, 5-6 times shorter than the ovary. flowers erect-patent, glabrous. Sepals narrowly oblong, obtuse. Median sepal concave, 0.5 cm long. Lateral sepals subfalcate-oblique, outside along the mid-vein keeled-thickened, 0.4 cm long. Petals subfalcate-oblong, obtuse, somewhat dilated towards the base, margins very lightly undulate, 0.45 cm long, a little broader than the sepals. Lip hypochile obtriangular-rhombic, i.e. margins on either side dilated into a triangular, rather obtuse lobe; epichile quadrangular, apically prolonged into a semi-orbicular, at the apex obtuse and thickened lobule; lip in total 0.35 cm long, near the middle 0.25 cm wide, above the base 0.15 cm wide, hypochile 0.13 cm long. Column slightly curved, 0.28 cm long, clinandrium cucullate, dorsally deeply notched. Ovary pedicellate, slender, cylindrical, glabrous, 0.8 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1921).

Colours: Not recorded.

Habitat: Terrestrial in forest.

Flowering time in the wild: Not known

Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea, endemic).

Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea. See map: 52-12M.JPG

Cultivation: Terrestrial, probably parasitic on fungi and probably impossible to grow under normal conditions.

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